DATE=12/15/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SUDAN OPPOSITION (L)
NUMBER=2-257180
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=KHARTOUM
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Opposition leaders in Sudan are reacting
with caution to recent emergency measures decreed
by President Omar al-Bashir. V-O-A correspondent
Scott Bobb in Khartoum reports the opposition
leaders say the measures are part of an internal
dispute, but hope they will lead to democratic
reforms.
TEXT: One of Sudan's leading pro-democracy activists,
Ghazi Suleiman, offered support to the government of
President Omar al-Bashir -- if the president will
initiate democratic reforms.
/// SULEIMAN ACT ///
This is a turning point, but we don't want the
government to be exhausted so that it collapses
without any prior notice. In fact this is not
in the favor of my country. We want this
government to go and approach the main problem,
which is peace in my country.
/// END ACT ///
Sudanese for the most part have reacted cautiously to
President Bashir's announcement late Sunday that he
was decreeing emergency measures for three months and
dissolving the national assembly.
/// BASHIR ACT - IN ARABIC - FADE UNDER ///
President Bashir told reporters there can only be one
leader in a country and said the armed forces support
his move. The Sudanese president made the move amid a
power struggle with the national assembly and its
powerful leader, Hassan al-Turabi. The assembly in
recent months had proposed laws aimed at stripping the
president of many of his powers. This followed a
conference of the ruling National Congress party in
which the president was given a subordinate position
in the central committee under the leadership of Mr.
Turabi.
The opposition in Sudan calls the current crisis an
internal dispute within the ruling government, which
came to power in a military coup 10 years ago and,
under the guidance of Mr. Turabi, installed an
Islamist form of government.
President Bashir has indicated his government will
continue its current policies but expressed a desire
for unity.
The chairman of a pro-democracy movement called the
Democratic Forces Front, Toby Madiot, says he hopes
this means priority will be given to ending Sudan's 16
year civil war.
/// REST OPT ///
/// MADIOT ACT ///
We feel that our priority is to work for peace,
to bring peace to Sudan by stopping the war.
And we feel that war cannot be stopped unless
we achieve democracy, equality, justice, and
unity and diversity.
/// END ACT ///
Leaders in Sudan and the region have expressed concern
over a recent law authorizing the U-S government to
provide separate aid to rebels in southern Sudan.
Although the U-S government has not indicated it
intends to begin such a program, the announcement has
caused concern that it could lead to the secession of
the south.
This pressure, combined with what observers call a
general fatigue over the war, have brought a flurry of
meetings and sometimes rival agreements between
factions in the Sudanese government, the rebels, and
the civil opposition both inside the country and
abroad. (Signed)
NEB/SB/JWH/KL
15-Dec-1999 15:21 PM EDT (15-Dec-1999 2021 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
